Survey finding
Chancel repair liability: what it means and what to do
Chancel repair liability is one of those medieval property quirks that still matters at conveyancing stage. This page covers what it is, why indemnity insurance is the standard fix, and what reform may bring.
Last updated: 6 May 2026. Editorially reviewed: 20 May 2026.
Finding
Chancel repair liability
What this usually means
Chancel repair liability is a medieval obligation on certain landowners to contribute to repairs of a parish church chancel. The Land Registration Act 2002 ended automatic chancel liability after 13 October 2013, Parochial Church Councils had to register a Notice or Caution before that date for the liability to survive on a sale. The risk now is residual: registered liabilities still bind, and inheritance or gift transfers can preserve liability where a sale would have removed it.
Why it matters
Chancel repair indemnity insurance is the standard solution at conveyancing stage, typically £20–£50 one-off, covers the property in perpetuity, and most conveyancers recommend it on any property where the chancel-repair search comes back uncertain. The Law Commission ran a consultation closing November 2025 on further reform; no changes have commenced as of May 2026.
Ask your surveyor
- Check:Surveyors do not assess chancel repair liability. This is a conveyancer's search.
Ask the seller
- Check:Is the property in a parish with documented chancel repair liability?
- Check:Has chancel repair indemnity insurance been put in place?
Next steps
- •Get two written quotes from local trades before negotiating with the seller.
- •Speak to your mortgage broker before exchanging if the finding affects mortgageability.
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What you need to know
Severity
Maintenance item. Worth quoting and including in negotiation.
Typical cost to fix
Chancel repair search £15–£30. Indemnity insurance £20–£50 one-off, typically lifetime cover for successors in title.
Mortgage impact
Lenders almost universally require chancel repair indemnity where the search returns a positive risk. Indemnity insurance satisfies the requirement.
Insurance impact
Indemnity insurance is the standard product and is widely available.
When to pull out
Almost never a pull-out trigger. Indemnity insurance is cheap and well established.
When to renegotiate, and by how much
If the seller has not put indemnity in place, ask them to fund it (£20–£50). Not a price-renegotiation item.
Thinking of pulling out or renegotiating? What to do after a bad survey
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The Survey Decoder explains the wording. The full report adds address-specific flood, subsidence, EPC, crime, listed status, building age and price comparison data, so a single finding isn't judged in isolation.
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Check the property before you offer
Flood, subsidence, EPC, crime, schools, transport, broadband, tenure, age, listed status and price checks where data is available.
Run a free previewRead next
Restrictive covenants on title , often sits near chancel repair liability on a survey and is the next thing to check.
Editorial review
Editorial owner: BiteRight Ltd, operator of MyPropertyScan. We review buyer guides against UK public property datasets, RICS survey wording, lender requirements, and common buyer questions.
Pages are updated when source coverage, property-risk guidance, survey cost assumptions, or product checks materially change. Methodology and dataset limitations are explained on the MyPropertyScan methodology page.
Sources used
We use UK public and specialist sources where they are available. Public datasets can be incomplete, delayed, or missing for some addresses. Treat them as a starting point, not as a replacement for professional advice.
Source standard: preference goes to official government datasets, statutory bodies, professional standards, and primary dataset publishers. We cite the source family on the page and explain coverage limits rather than filling gaps with unsupported estimates.